Record support for Lions tour
May 31, 2001

The Lions will be followed to Australia by a staggering 12,000 fans who have stumped up over £36 million for the chance to see their heroes make history.

The touring party leaves tomorrow and official operators today issued a warning to fans who are flying to Australia without match tickets.

John Hall, chairman of Gullivers Sports Travel, the biggest Lions operator, told the Evening Standard, "If you haven't already sorted out your Test-match tickets then you will be travelling more in hope than expectation because we have never seen demand like this. Fans in Australia have been calling outlets in the UK to try and find a ticket and there aren't any to be had."

The Lions tour to South Africa in 1997 saw a huge increase in supporters with Gullivers taking 1,600 on that trip. But this summer demand has increased again, with 2,500 booked to travel.

Hall added, "The power of the Lions is immense and we have one chap from Spain who will be on his third Lions tour and he doesn't speak any English!

"There are two other guys from Germany and six from Houston in Texas who all paid very early to be part of the trip.

"We do have a couple of difficult situations to deal with caused by the sheer number of fans. The Coff's Harbour Stadium has 400 seats and the locals have all of them, leaving the 12,000 Lions fans to stand.

"We are also preparing to fly our 2,500 people from Cairns to Melbourne on 6 July to be in town for the Second Test and the airlines are bringing in jumbo jets to help the situation."

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